Prosecution Insights
Prosecution Insights
Technology areas: Chemistry & Materials • Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering
11 pending office actions • 8 art units • 10 examiners • 0 of 11 (0%) have an AI response strategy ready • 12 patents granted in the last 365 days
Southwest Research Institute has 11 pending office actions in the Medical Devices & Mechanical Engineering technology area. These actions are distributed among 10 distinct examiners, showing a high degree of variety in the examination process. The portfolio spans 8 distinct art units, which indicates that the institute's work covers a broad range of mechanical and medical technologies. MENGESHA, WEBESHET is the busiest examiner, holding 2 busiest examiner pending actions. This means that while 10 distinct examiners are involved, MENGESHA, WEBESHET manages a slightly larger portion of the 11 pending office actions than others.
The 8 distinct art units suggest a wide organizational presence within the patent office. Practitioners should expect to interact with many different examiners across these 8 distinct art units. This distribution across 10 distinct examiners helps to mitigate the risk of any single examiner's idiosyncratic tendencies. However, the 2 busiest examiner pending actions assigned to MENGESHA, WEBESHET represent a small point of concentration in an otherwise decentralized portfolio. Managing 11 pending office actions across 8 distinct art units requires a coordinated effort to maintain consistency in prosecution strategy. The variety of 10 distinct examiners ensures that the institute receives a broad spectrum of feedback.
Based on the USPTO statutory response window for each pending office action. 1 of the docket's apps have a known mailing date; the rest are excluded from the tile counts.
Difficulty is derived from the rejection statutes on the most recent pending office action. §101-driven and multi-statute cases are graded Hard; §112-only and obviousness-type double-patenting cases are graded Easy; everything else is Medium. "Unknown" means we have not yet parsed a statute for that office action.
| Bucket | Cases |
|---|---|
| §103 only | 1 (9%) |
| §102 only | 2 (18%) |
| §112 only | 1 (9%) |
| Double-patenting + other | 1 (9%) |
| Multi-statute (no §101) | 6 (55%) |
How the docket's pending cases split across USPTO tech-center bands.
Manual office-action response work runs about 10 hours per case. The time-saved bands below show what IP Author's prosecution pipeline typically delivers — a conservative 20% on the low end, 35% in the middle, 50% on the high end.
| Examiner | Apps on this docket | Allow rate | Interview lift |
|---|---|---|---|
| MENGESHA, WEBESHET | 2 | 47.2% | +12.7% |
| BEKELE, MEKONEN T | 1 | 79.1% | +13.7% |
| HOLBROOK, TEUTA BAJRAMOVIC | 1 | 72.2% | +26.6% |
| SANGHERA, JAS A | 1 | 94.5% | +5.0% |
| ZHU, JIANJIAN | 1 | 58.8% | +82.4% |
| UNDERWOOD, JARREAS C | 1 | 79.2% | +21.7% |
| KUCKLA, ANNA GRACE | 1 | 53.2% | +54.1% |
| ZHANG, KELING NMN | 1 | 66.8% | +17.6% |
| HASSAN, LIBAN M | 1 | 50.7% | +31.1% |
| FREEMAN, EMILY ELIZABETH | 1 | 72.7% | +14.3% |
Multi-statute / §101-driven matters, or cases in front of an examiner with an allow rate under 30%. The top 6 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18545358 | Heated Work-Extraction Mechanism for a Cryogenic-Based Carbon Dioxide Capture System | MENGESHA, WEBESHET | 31d overdue |
| 19023522 | Polarization Imaging for Defect Detection in Irregular Reflective Surfaces | BEKELE, MEKONEN T | — |
| 18913211 | TEST DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MEASUREMENT OF AERATION IN A FLOW STREAM VIA ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES | SANGHERA, JAS A | — |
| 18545364 | Cryogenic-Based Carbon Dioxide Capture System | MENGESHA, WEBESHET | — |
| 18472472 | THREE-DIMENSIONAL BIOREACTOR INCLUDING FILLED VOID STRUCTURE | HASSAN, LIBAN M | — |
| 17902871 | Thermal Runaway Prevention System | FREEMAN, EMILY ELIZABETH | — |
Cases in front of an examiner whose interview lift is 10 percentage points or more — i.e. interviewed cases historically resolve more favorably than non-interviewed ones. The top 8 ordered by deadline are shown.
| App # | Title | Examiner | Due in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18545358 | Heated Work-Extraction Mechanism for a Cryogenic-Based Carbon Dioxide Capture System | MENGESHA, WEBESHET | 31d overdue |
| 19023522 | Polarization Imaging for Defect Detection in Irregular Reflective Surfaces | BEKELE, MEKONEN T | — |
| 18976521 | ENGINE ANOMALY DETECTION AND MITIGATION SYSTEMS | HOLBROOK, TEUTA BAJRAMOVIC | — |
| 18653747 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR T-CELL SEPARATION, ACTIVATION, TRANSDUCTION AND EXPANSION | ZHU, JIANJIAN | — |
| 18398027 | METHOD TO EVALUATE WEAR DEPTH OF NON-METALLIC PARTS | UNDERWOOD, JARREAS C | — |
| 18545364 | Cryogenic-Based Carbon Dioxide Capture System | MENGESHA, WEBESHET | — |
| 18529015 | SYNTHESIS OF BIS-OXIME HETEROCYCLES | KUCKLA, ANNA GRACE | — |
| 18480230 | SELECTIVE REVERSE WATER GAS SHIFT: GROUP 1A ALKALI METAL DOPING OF A METAL-CONTAINING PARTIALLY REDUCED METAL (IV) OXIDE | ZHANG, KELING NMN | — |
| Art Unit | Apps |
|---|---|
| 3763 | 2 |
| 2699 | 1 |
| 3747 | 1 |
| 2877 | 1 |
| 1626 | 1 |
| 1732 | 1 |
| 1799 | 1 |
| 1724 | 1 |
| App # | Title | Examiner | Art Unit | Statutes | Status | Due in | AI | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19023522 | Polarization Imaging for Defect Detection in Irregular Reflective Surfaces | BEKELE, MEKONEN T | 2699 | §102§103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Jan 16, 2025 |
| 18976521 | ENGINE ANOMALY DETECTION AND MITIGATION SYSTEMS | HOLBROOK, TEUTA BAJRAMOVIC | 3747 | §102 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 11, 2024 |
| 18913211 | TEST DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MEASUREMENT OF AERATION IN A FLOW STREAM VIA ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES | SANGHERA, JAS A | — | §103§112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 11, 2024 |
| 18653747 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR T-CELL SEPARATION, ACTIVATION, TRANSDUCTION AND EXPANSION | ZHU, JIANJIAN | — | §102§103DP | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | May 02, 2024 |
| 18398027 | METHOD TO EVALUATE WEAR DEPTH OF NON-METALLIC PARTS | UNDERWOOD, JARREAS C | 2877 | §103 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 27, 2023 |
| 18545364 | Cryogenic-Based Carbon Dioxide Capture System | MENGESHA, WEBESHET | 3763 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Dec 19, 2023 |
| 18545358 | Heated Work-Extraction Mechanism for a Cryogenic-Based Carbon Dioxide Capture System | MENGESHA, WEBESHET | 3763 | §102§103§112 | Final Rejection | 31d overdue | Pending | Dec 19, 2023 |
| 18529015 | SYNTHESIS OF BIS-OXIME HETEROCYCLES | KUCKLA, ANNA GRACE | 1626 | §112 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Dec 05, 2023 |
| 18480230 | SELECTIVE REVERSE WATER GAS SHIFT: GROUP 1A ALKALI METAL DOPING OF A METAL-CONTAINING PARTIALLY REDUCED METAL (IV) OXIDE | ZHANG, KELING NMN | 1732 | §102 | Non-Final OA | — | Pending | Oct 03, 2023 |
| 18472472 | THREE-DIMENSIONAL BIOREACTOR INCLUDING FILLED VOID STRUCTURE | HASSAN, LIBAN M | 1799 | §103§112 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 22, 2023 |
| 17902871 | Thermal Runaway Prevention System | FREEMAN, EMILY ELIZABETH | 1724 | §102§103 | Final Rejection | — | Pending | Sep 04, 2022 |
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